So I did:
Showing posts with label master cleanse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label master cleanse. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A Night of Improv
So I did:
Friday, November 9, 2007
Dehydrated is the New Black
Back when I was on the Master Cleanse, I started researching healthier alternatives to my vegetarian lifestyle and got very interested in raw veganism. On the message boards I read, it seemed like everyone and their grandmother had dropped about $57889205 on a fancy dehydrator and it felt like I just couldn't be healthy without one (I'm impressionable!) so I got one similar to this on eBay for $30 including shipping. I wasn't going to drop $200 on a machine I might use twice and get bored of!
Well, I've been using it for about a month and I'm not bored yet.
So far, I've used the dehydrator for fruit, vegetables and even to make crackers with varying degrees of success. Apples, plums and other fruits all came out fine. The crackers stuck to the drying racks and were a total mess, so I think I'll spray them with a bit of oil next time. Vegetables have been far more difficult than fruit.
Many moons ago, I was stuck in Penn Station, waiting for a train at some stupid time of night and absolutely starving. I found a place that sold celery chips and bought them out of curiosity while completely expecting them to suck. They were awesome. I loved them. And haven't been able to find them since.
So, of course, when I got my dehydrator, my first thought was "OMG I'M GOING TO MAKE CELERY CHIPS AND IT WILL BE THE BEST EVER! HOORAY!!" (this was closely followed by "OMG! I can BBQ tofu (or maybe gluten), stick it in there and make my own pseudo-Jerquee!)
So I dried some celery (among other things) and it kind of came out looking like potpourri. Tasted all right, but didn't look or feel particularly appetizing. So I checked the original celery chips' website and noticed the other ingredients in the chips were canola oil and sea salt, two things I happened to have on hand! So next time I loaded up the dehydrator with celery (and carrots and cucumbers) I brushed half of them with oil and sprinkled with salt and kept half of them plain.
The celery still turned into potpourri, but now it was REALLY salty potpourri. The carrots got very hard and chewy, which I liked since I've been off gum for a while, but again, the salt + oil didn't really benefit them much. The cucumbers were by far my favorites. They got sort of leathery but very tasty, but the salted ones were still too salty. One day soon, I definitely want to load the whole thing up with just cucumbers and let it go.
All of the vegetables finished drying at different times, depending on what they were and how I cut them (I'm not very consistent), so I couldn't get a picture of all the dried stuff together (I kind of ate quite a bit of it straight from the dehydrator instead of putting it away). If I just do cucumber next time, that should be more uniform and I'll get a photo then.
Well, I've been using it for about a month and I'm not bored yet.
So far, I've used the dehydrator for fruit, vegetables and even to make crackers with varying degrees of success. Apples, plums and other fruits all came out fine. The crackers stuck to the drying racks and were a total mess, so I think I'll spray them with a bit of oil next time. Vegetables have been far more difficult than fruit.
Many moons ago, I was stuck in Penn Station, waiting for a train at some stupid time of night and absolutely starving. I found a place that sold celery chips and bought them out of curiosity while completely expecting them to suck. They were awesome. I loved them. And haven't been able to find them since.
So, of course, when I got my dehydrator, my first thought was "OMG I'M GOING TO MAKE CELERY CHIPS AND IT WILL BE THE BEST EVER! HOORAY!!" (this was closely followed by "OMG! I can BBQ tofu (or maybe gluten), stick it in there and make my own pseudo-Jerquee!)
So I dried some celery (among other things) and it kind of came out looking like potpourri. Tasted all right, but didn't look or feel particularly appetizing. So I checked the original celery chips' website and noticed the other ingredients in the chips were canola oil and sea salt, two things I happened to have on hand! So next time I loaded up the dehydrator with celery (and carrots and cucumbers) I brushed half of them with oil and sprinkled with salt and kept half of them plain.
The celery still turned into potpourri, but now it was REALLY salty potpourri. The carrots got very hard and chewy, which I liked since I've been off gum for a while, but again, the salt + oil didn't really benefit them much. The cucumbers were by far my favorites. They got sort of leathery but very tasty, but the salted ones were still too salty. One day soon, I definitely want to load the whole thing up with just cucumbers and let it go.
All of the vegetables finished drying at different times, depending on what they were and how I cut them (I'm not very consistent), so I couldn't get a picture of all the dried stuff together (I kind of ate quite a bit of it straight from the dehydrator instead of putting it away). If I just do cucumber next time, that should be more uniform and I'll get a photo then.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Not Your Mamas Matzo Ball Soup
But it is my mama's matzo ball soup...now.
In a drastic step forward, this week, my mother changed over from traditional matzo ball soup to matzo balls in vegan broth for the sabbath. The two of us are dragging the rest of the family kicking and screaming into a 21st century, where we're no longer dependent on animals to live.
I'm Jewish and my family is rather traditional (I'm also the only vegetarian in a family of omnis). Every Friday night and Saturday afternoon, we all eat a meal together when my father and brother come home from synagogue. True to stereotype, we start dinner with matzo ball soup every week. Also true to stereotype, the matzo balls were always cooked in home made chicken stock.
Up until not that long ago, my attitude toward vegetarianism was "If I don't see it, it isn't there," which suited my mother just fine since she always removed all the chicken from the broth before serving the soup anyway. Needless to say, she was less than happy when I told her I'd no longer eat a soup that had touched chicken (or matzo balls that involved eggs) and I hated going soupless, but we both coped.
Then I brought home Vegan With a Vengeance and showed her the Matzo Ball Soup recipe. She was curious, but that was about it. She said something about not liking the idea of using so much oil to make the matzo balls and that was that.
Then (as I've mentioned enough times to make anyone reading this sick, I'm sure), I decided to break my Master Cleanse fast with VWAV's Golden Vegetable Broth, the recommended stock for the vegan Matzo Ball Soup. It all went down something like this:
Me: Spends what feels like eons chopping vegetables and working really hard to make my first soup. Finally finish it, taste it and completely spaz out at the awesomeness of it. Proceed to run around the house brandishing a ladle full of hot broth and shouting TASTE MY SOUP! IT'S SO AWESOME! EVERYONE HAS TO LOVE IT! THESE COOKBOOK PEOPLE ARE GENIUSES! I COULD MARRY THIS SOUP!
Mom: If it'll shut you up, I'll taste the soup. Does so. There's no chicken in this?
Me: Nope.
Mom: Just vegetables?
Me: Yup.
Mom: Then where does it get the flavor from?
Me: The vegetables.
Mom: Seriously?
Me: Yes. It uses lots of vegetables.
Mom: But it looks and tastes so much like mine!
Me: Yup!
Mom: But it doesn't use meat?
Me: Nope.
Mom: So it's healthier.
Me: Yup. Probably cheaper too.
Mom: Hm.
So she used up her remaining stock of chicken soup (I had a separate portion of the vegetable soup every week), went out and bought a metric assload of the vegetables required for the Golden Vegetable Broth (plus celery and turnip) and secretly replaced our traditional chicken soup with vegan broth!
The rest of the family liked it, but my father complained that chicken soup is the tradition, not vegetable broth. We told him to stuff it and my mother plans on using the vegan broth every week, now. She's still not making the vegan matzo balls, so I've been going without, but it's a start. And since she doesn't object to me making the vegan matzo balls for the family, I'm going to try to make them next week and see if I can't convert us over completely by the end of VeganMoFo.
(Funnily, my mother will never, ever give up her meat, but she's very proud of all the vegetables and things I cook and likes me to bring vegan food to our holiday family gatherings. She also loves to just talk about vegan food and actually sat down and read most of VWAV and VCTOTW. I think it makes her feel enlightened - and she enjoys how Isa and Terry write).
In a drastic step forward, this week, my mother changed over from traditional matzo ball soup to matzo balls in vegan broth for the sabbath. The two of us are dragging the rest of the family kicking and screaming into a 21st century, where we're no longer dependent on animals to live.
I'm Jewish and my family is rather traditional (I'm also the only vegetarian in a family of omnis). Every Friday night and Saturday afternoon, we all eat a meal together when my father and brother come home from synagogue. True to stereotype, we start dinner with matzo ball soup every week. Also true to stereotype, the matzo balls were always cooked in home made chicken stock.
Up until not that long ago, my attitude toward vegetarianism was "If I don't see it, it isn't there," which suited my mother just fine since she always removed all the chicken from the broth before serving the soup anyway. Needless to say, she was less than happy when I told her I'd no longer eat a soup that had touched chicken (or matzo balls that involved eggs) and I hated going soupless, but we both coped.
Then I brought home Vegan With a Vengeance and showed her the Matzo Ball Soup recipe. She was curious, but that was about it. She said something about not liking the idea of using so much oil to make the matzo balls and that was that.
Then (as I've mentioned enough times to make anyone reading this sick, I'm sure), I decided to break my Master Cleanse fast with VWAV's Golden Vegetable Broth, the recommended stock for the vegan Matzo Ball Soup. It all went down something like this:
Me: Spends what feels like eons chopping vegetables and working really hard to make my first soup. Finally finish it, taste it and completely spaz out at the awesomeness of it. Proceed to run around the house brandishing a ladle full of hot broth and shouting TASTE MY SOUP! IT'S SO AWESOME! EVERYONE HAS TO LOVE IT! THESE COOKBOOK PEOPLE ARE GENIUSES! I COULD MARRY THIS SOUP!
Mom: If it'll shut you up, I'll taste the soup. Does so. There's no chicken in this?
Me: Nope.
Mom: Just vegetables?
Me: Yup.
Mom: Then where does it get the flavor from?
Me: The vegetables.
Mom: Seriously?
Me: Yes. It uses lots of vegetables.
Mom: But it looks and tastes so much like mine!
Me: Yup!
Mom: But it doesn't use meat?
Me: Nope.
Mom: So it's healthier.
Me: Yup. Probably cheaper too.
Mom: Hm.
So she used up her remaining stock of chicken soup (I had a separate portion of the vegetable soup every week), went out and bought a metric assload of the vegetables required for the Golden Vegetable Broth (plus celery and turnip) and secretly replaced our traditional chicken soup with vegan broth!
The rest of the family liked it, but my father complained that chicken soup is the tradition, not vegetable broth. We told him to stuff it and my mother plans on using the vegan broth every week, now. She's still not making the vegan matzo balls, so I've been going without, but it's a start. And since she doesn't object to me making the vegan matzo balls for the family, I'm going to try to make them next week and see if I can't convert us over completely by the end of VeganMoFo.
(Funnily, my mother will never, ever give up her meat, but she's very proud of all the vegetables and things I cook and likes me to bring vegan food to our holiday family gatherings. She also loves to just talk about vegan food and actually sat down and read most of VWAV and VCTOTW. I think it makes her feel enlightened - and she enjoys how Isa and Terry write).
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Soup of the Evening, Beautiful, Beautiful Soup!
I'm starting this blog with entries about what led up to me wanting to keep it. This post is backdated to approximately the date it happened.
You can't go straight back to eating heavy, solid foods when you finish the Master Cleanse. You start off with fresh squeezed orange juice, then vegetable broth, vegetable soup, salad, and finally whatever you want. Since the vegetable soup/broth was going to be the first thing I've cooked for myself (and the first thing I'd eaten in a month and a half), I wanted it to be a good one and chose the Golden Vegetable Broth from VWaV. I doubled the recipe and ate it clear on the first day, then added the vegetables back in as I went along on other days. The only other variation on the recipe I made was a bit of extra garlic and I peeled the onion but not the carrots and parsnips.
This soup is SO GOOD. And not just because I hadn't eaten for 45 days. I'm not one for serious relationships, but I would marry this soup. Aside from the broth being fabulously tasty, the vegetables all absorb the amazing flavor of the broth and are wonderful even by themselves, which is a good thing because it yields a TON of vegetables. I'm currently almost done with my broth and still have a few quarts of vegetables in the freezer, waiting to be devoured.
I'm definitely going to make this again. I probably want to make sure I have the necessary ingredients and at least one portion of finished soup on hand at all times. I think I'll add zucchini and celery next time.
Reserved vegetable goodness. The colors! The colors!
You can't go straight back to eating heavy, solid foods when you finish the Master Cleanse. You start off with fresh squeezed orange juice, then vegetable broth, vegetable soup, salad, and finally whatever you want. Since the vegetable soup/broth was going to be the first thing I've cooked for myself (and the first thing I'd eaten in a month and a half), I wanted it to be a good one and chose the Golden Vegetable Broth from VWaV. I doubled the recipe and ate it clear on the first day, then added the vegetables back in as I went along on other days. The only other variation on the recipe I made was a bit of extra garlic and I peeled the onion but not the carrots and parsnips.
This soup is SO GOOD. And not just because I hadn't eaten for 45 days. I'm not one for serious relationships, but I would marry this soup. Aside from the broth being fabulously tasty, the vegetables all absorb the amazing flavor of the broth and are wonderful even by themselves, which is a good thing because it yields a TON of vegetables. I'm currently almost done with my broth and still have a few quarts of vegetables in the freezer, waiting to be devoured.
I'm definitely going to make this again. I probably want to make sure I have the necessary ingredients and at least one portion of finished soup on hand at all times. I think I'll add zucchini and celery next time.
Reserved vegetable goodness. The colors! The colors!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Why Am I Here?
I'm starting this blog with entries about what led up to me wanting to keep it. This post is backdated to approximately the date it happened.
No, this isn't one of those philosophical posts about the meaning of life, but with the ridiculous number of food blogs, message boards and websites around, I thought I should explain why I thought the Internet needed another one.
I didn't. I thought I needed another one. One of the many things I learned about myself from doing the Master Cleanse is that my chances for success increase when other people know what I'm doing. This may partially be because my friends are all awesome, supportive and inquired about every step of it (some of them even did it for a few days themselves), but I think it's more because if people know what I'm doing, I feel stupid wussing out of it publicly and there's nothing I hate more than feeling stupid.
As I think I may have mentioned, now that I'm done with the Cleanse, I'm starting with a clean slate, nutritionally. Making the most of that will take the kind of vigilance that comes from not wanting to look like an ass in public, so I'll be using this space to post recipes, pictures, food links etc. that I'll be using to keep myself healthy. Since I'm mostly cooking food that'll be packed up into single-portion containers and brought to work, my photos won't be all pretty like the ones you see on the PPK flickr. They'll just be good enough to see how mine turned out, so if you try the recipes and they look completely different, you know one of us goofed (probably me).
If I don't update for a while, please send someone to find me. I'll probably be trapped in an avalanche of pizza, macaroni and cheese and General Tso's "chicken".
No, this isn't one of those philosophical posts about the meaning of life, but with the ridiculous number of food blogs, message boards and websites around, I thought I should explain why I thought the Internet needed another one.
I didn't. I thought I needed another one. One of the many things I learned about myself from doing the Master Cleanse is that my chances for success increase when other people know what I'm doing. This may partially be because my friends are all awesome, supportive and inquired about every step of it (some of them even did it for a few days themselves), but I think it's more because if people know what I'm doing, I feel stupid wussing out of it publicly and there's nothing I hate more than feeling stupid.
As I think I may have mentioned, now that I'm done with the Cleanse, I'm starting with a clean slate, nutritionally. Making the most of that will take the kind of vigilance that comes from not wanting to look like an ass in public, so I'll be using this space to post recipes, pictures, food links etc. that I'll be using to keep myself healthy. Since I'm mostly cooking food that'll be packed up into single-portion containers and brought to work, my photos won't be all pretty like the ones you see on the PPK flickr. They'll just be good enough to see how mine turned out, so if you try the recipes and they look completely different, you know one of us goofed (probably me).
If I don't update for a while, please send someone to find me. I'll probably be trapped in an avalanche of pizza, macaroni and cheese and General Tso's "chicken".
Monday, October 1, 2007
Starting With a Clean Slate
I'm starting this blog with entries about what led up to me wanting to keep it. This post is backdated to approximately the date it happened.
There's something weird about cooking when you're not eating. Especially if you're not eating for an extended period of time.
I'm not skinny. Up until a couple of months ago, some might even have considered me fat, and I'd have agreed. I got fed up and decided to do something impetuous about it: I went on the Master Cleanse on September 1. And stayed on it for a month and a half.
So what did I do with all the time I saved by not eating? I read recipes. And looked up restaurants. And watched cooking shows online. And planned meals. I became completely obsessed with food, but it was all healthy, mostly vegan food. I bought a dehydrator, got some fruit, and dried it so my family could eat it. I read about the best places to find organic, locally grown produce. I wanted to grow my own herbs. And since I couldn't actually cook for myself, I cooked for others.
I've never been really pleased with my weight, but I always thought "If I could just start over from scratch, I'd take better care of myself. I wouldn't abuse my body with junk food and a lack of exercise if it was a healthy one. Starting out as I am and trying to get into shape is too much work, but if I could start in shape, I'd keep it." I guess I saw the Cleanse as my chance at a clean slate. I was very diligent about following it and went to the gym several times per week while on it (and continue to).
While I was in food research mode, I discovered Isa Chandra Moskowitz (author of VCTOTW) had written another cookbook before that: Vegan With a Vengeance. Obviously, I had to have it and despite not eating, I ran out and bought it right away and began ogling the recipes.
So I had some time off from work and decided to make my family some Byzantine Vegetable Stew. I bought all the ingredients, then lost the link to the recipe (I've obviously found it since). My family was totally disappointed by the lack of homemade food and I was pissed I wouldn't get to play with vegetables. Then I had a brilliant idea: I whipped out my new VWAV, looked for a recipe with similar ingredients and found Knish Madness. Knishes! WIN! I didn't have any spinach, so I made two batches of potato and one of sweet potato.
I don't know what kind of sweet potato can be soft enough to mash after sitting in the oven for forty minutes, then cooling, but it's certainly not the kind I bought! The knishes took at least two hours longer to prepare than I thought they would based on the book because of those damn sweet potatoes. I really wanted to put them all in the oven at once, but I started to worry the sweet potatoes would never soften, so I finished the potato ones while waiting for them. They were almost completely done baking by the time the sweet potatoes were soft enough to mash. Damn!
Aside from that, I really enjoyed making the knishes. It was like cooking and baking in one. And I had left over filling, which everyone loved to eat plain as a side dish. My brother's mantra has always been "Why would you ruin a perfectly good potato with something as nasty as onions?" so my jaw nearly hit the floor when I asked him what he thought of the potatoes and he said "They were amazing. Best. Potatoes. Ever. The onion was a nice touch." I had chopped the onions up so fine it was crazy, so there's the lesson of the day: want to trick a kid into eating something s/he hates? Chop it up small.
There's something weird about cooking when you're not eating. Especially if you're not eating for an extended period of time.
I'm not skinny. Up until a couple of months ago, some might even have considered me fat, and I'd have agreed. I got fed up and decided to do something impetuous about it: I went on the Master Cleanse on September 1. And stayed on it for a month and a half.
So what did I do with all the time I saved by not eating? I read recipes. And looked up restaurants. And watched cooking shows online. And planned meals. I became completely obsessed with food, but it was all healthy, mostly vegan food. I bought a dehydrator, got some fruit, and dried it so my family could eat it. I read about the best places to find organic, locally grown produce. I wanted to grow my own herbs. And since I couldn't actually cook for myself, I cooked for others.
I've never been really pleased with my weight, but I always thought "If I could just start over from scratch, I'd take better care of myself. I wouldn't abuse my body with junk food and a lack of exercise if it was a healthy one. Starting out as I am and trying to get into shape is too much work, but if I could start in shape, I'd keep it." I guess I saw the Cleanse as my chance at a clean slate. I was very diligent about following it and went to the gym several times per week while on it (and continue to).
While I was in food research mode, I discovered Isa Chandra Moskowitz (author of VCTOTW) had written another cookbook before that: Vegan With a Vengeance. Obviously, I had to have it and despite not eating, I ran out and bought it right away and began ogling the recipes.
So I had some time off from work and decided to make my family some Byzantine Vegetable Stew. I bought all the ingredients, then lost the link to the recipe (I've obviously found it since). My family was totally disappointed by the lack of homemade food and I was pissed I wouldn't get to play with vegetables. Then I had a brilliant idea: I whipped out my new VWAV, looked for a recipe with similar ingredients and found Knish Madness. Knishes! WIN! I didn't have any spinach, so I made two batches of potato and one of sweet potato.
I don't know what kind of sweet potato can be soft enough to mash after sitting in the oven for forty minutes, then cooling, but it's certainly not the kind I bought! The knishes took at least two hours longer to prepare than I thought they would based on the book because of those damn sweet potatoes. I really wanted to put them all in the oven at once, but I started to worry the sweet potatoes would never soften, so I finished the potato ones while waiting for them. They were almost completely done baking by the time the sweet potatoes were soft enough to mash. Damn!
Aside from that, I really enjoyed making the knishes. It was like cooking and baking in one. And I had left over filling, which everyone loved to eat plain as a side dish. My brother's mantra has always been "Why would you ruin a perfectly good potato with something as nasty as onions?" so my jaw nearly hit the floor when I asked him what he thought of the potatoes and he said "They were amazing. Best. Potatoes. Ever. The onion was a nice touch." I had chopped the onions up so fine it was crazy, so there's the lesson of the day: want to trick a kid into eating something s/he hates? Chop it up small.
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